Krishna Slays King Shishupala in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, June 2018

Krishna Slays King Shishupala (Primary Title)

Unknown (Artist)

Date: ca. 1780

Culture: Indian

Category: Paintings
Works On Paper

Medium: opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Collection: South Asian Art

Geography: Punjab Hills, Guler, India

Dimensions: Sheet: 10 5/16 × 13 1/4 in. (26.19 × 33.66 cm)
Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.64 × 50.8 cm)

Object Number: 81.216

For many years Krishna tolerated the malicious behavior of his jealous cousin and foe, King Shishupala. However, at a great royal sacrifice, Shishupala finally exhausted his cousin’s forbearance. After the attendees were asked to venerate the ceremony’s honored guest Krishna, Shishupala refused, deriding his cousin instead. Enraged by Shishupala’s arrogance, Krishna beheaded him on the spot with his flaming discus. This refined Guler painting depicts this culminating moment. Seated on a throne in the foreground of a palace courtyard, Krishna has just released the discus and decapitated the armed, onrushing Shishupala. Diademed rulers crowd the courtyard, Hindu priests tend the sacrificial fire, and court ladies look on from behind a blind in the background. So lightning-quick is Krishna’s act that not one of them has had time to react.

Additional Information

Credit Line: Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund

Published References:

Dye, Joseph M. The Arts of India: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. London: Philipp Wilson, 2001. (cat. no. 147, pp. 343-344)

Text from: www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-8115114